Southeast Asia

For those who aren’t familiar with it, Khao San Road and the area surrounding it is a destination for independent travelers (especially backpackers) and is a carnival-like scene riddled with guest houses, street food, beer gardens, internet cafes, travel agencies, 24-hour tailors, tattoo parlors, used bookstores, souvenir sellers, hair braiders, fortune tellers, gurus, con artists, felafel stands… You probably get the picture. It is, in a word, “wonderful,” and a rare enduring gem in a part of the world that is modernizing faster than I could have ever imagined.